Can I use one Letus for two cameras?

[Bobonli]

I'm intrigued and impressed by what can be made using an adapter. Spent the evening looking through some sites and I have these questions I hope you can help me with:

1) I have a small collection of Nikons, some primes (85, 20, 16, 60) and a sweet 80-200. Do these fall within the "useful" range for adapting to video? I'm not asking about personal vision....I mean will they work with an adapter?

2) I haven't seen too many pictures of people using zooms. Will zooms work with an adapter or will there be a loss of quality? All of my glass is f2.8 or faster.

3) I have a Canon HV 20 and aspire to a Sony EX1 in the future. The Letus site advertises the Mini for the HV 20. I'd rather not have to get two adapters and it looks like the Elite is the prefered model for the Sony (the Ultimate is waaay out of the question price-wise). Can the Elite be adapted to the HV 20 without quality loss? Thread adapters, perhaps?

4) Read somewhere that the Elite doesn't stop down past f5.6 and no high shutter speeds. Is this correct and how much of a handicap is that on video?

5) Are the Letus rods worth the money or can one do better with another set of rods?

Thank you for indulging my inquisitiveness. I can't imagine how people navigate this stuff without the help of forums like this!

Bob

 

[Charles Lowthian]

Sounds like a nice set of primes, and if all faster than f2.8 you have no worries.
All nikon lenses with the standard nikon bayonet mount will mount to an adapter with nikon mount. As there is enough space between the mount and the focussing screen, unlike slr's which some can cause damage to the cameras internals - but off topic.

Zooms can work, it is often more a question of practicality as they are larger/longer, but with decent rods/rails and lens support it can be done. Push pull zooms are more of a worry, but if you have an f2.8 80-200mm nikkor = wonderful.

Don't get the mini. It cannot be used with larger threaded cameras.
I've tried it on the HVX with stepping rings http://dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=123690
If the elite is similar to the extreme in physical size, then I would assume it should work with the hv20 but cannot confirm. Using stepping rings.

As for stopping slower than f5.6, you start to see the focussing screen grain pattern - which on a vibrating adapter, looks a bit like video noise. That and you also increase the depth of field which often might not be desired considering the desire to use a 35mm adapter - bokeh.

The shutter speed can be more of a reason to go for the ultimate, but depends shooting desires.
On the mini you cannot shoot higher than 1/50 - the image turns 'wobbly'
eg: http://vimeo.com/1013151 - most of that was shot at 120 or 250 if I recall. The whole image 'shakes' - noted mostly in the wide beach shots towards the end.

Experiment with shooting action/movement/etc at different shutters and you get different types of frames. Sharpness, blur, etc...

I have the first letus rods. Once tweaked they are solid - I sawed the bottoms off the risers so the base would be flat and camera would be so high up - hv20/mini35.
But have never used any other rods so cannot compare.

 

[Bobonli]

Thanks Charles. I think the Elite is the same as the Extreme with the addition of a back focus adapter. I read through the Letus webiste and there is a FAQ on there about using step up rings to go from mini-cam to the bigger adapters.

I'm hoping someone here has done that so I can hear their practical experience.

What is the "norm" for stopping down? Will I ever want to go past f5.6...at that point wouldn't I be getting back into the video look DOF?

 

[Taylor Rudd]

Back to the video look? Not really. The adapter does more than just shallow DoF. It diffuses the image, absorbs the highlights, adds "filmic" grain, softens the image (reduces resolution) a bit, etc.

Definitely go with a regular Letus - not the mini - and use step down rings.

 

[Deuceofspades]

1) I have a small collection of Nikons, some primes (85, 20, 16, 60) and a sweet 80-200. Do these fall within the "useful" range for adapting to video? I'm not asking about personal vision....I mean will they work with an adapter?


Bob

All the lenses can be attached and used. each lens does a specific job. of the ones you listed above, I would use a 60 and 85 for sure, the 20 for landscapes and 16 probably not that often. It's hard to film people with short lenses because they will make people look weird (stretching of image). But for landscape, or say if you are filming cars zipping by the camera, they work and very nicely so.

Ex: A 24mm lens did a great job to make this narrow road seem wider and make the cars look cool as they passed by my camera. but I would not film dialogues with it LOL.

A 35 mm lens can pull of dialogues, but people will seem very far away from each other. But if you are filming just one person in a very small room, the 35 has saved my fannies many times .

below: a shot in confined space with a single subject worked very well with a 35mm lens

 

[Bobonli]

Thanks.

Does anyone have experience using the Elite/Extreme on a smaller cam such as the HV20?

 

[lovetrumpsfear]

I have a Letus Extreme, and two cameras: the XH-A1 and the HV20. I bought the LEX when all I had was the HV20 (knowing, as you do, that I was going to upgrade) and used it with step-up rings. I actually use two rings, a 43>52 and a 52>72, because if you can find them, 43>72 rings are expensive.

I have a set of cheap CAvision rods that I use with my HV20, and the Letus V2 rods with my A1. I love the combination of the LEX with my HV20, and often use it hand-held at weddings. It feels really organic, and adds a nice pseudo-8mm feel to the reel, when intercut with the mostly-tripod A1 footage.

 

[Bobonli]

Thanks. Any issues with using the big-boy adapter on the smaller camera, things being wiggly and such?

I have a Letus Extreme, and two cameras: the XH-A1 and the HV20. I bought the LEX when all I had was the HV20 (knowing, as you do, that I was going to upgrade) and used it with step-up rings. I actually use two rings, a 43>52 and a 52>72, because if you can find them, 43>72 rings are expensive.

I have a set of cheap CAvision rods that I use with my HV20, and the Letus V2 rods with my A1. I love the combination of the LEX with my HV20, and often use it hand-held at weddings. It feels really organic, and adds a nice pseudo-8mm feel to the reel, when intercut with the mostly-tripod A1 footage.